Sunday, July 26, 2015

Free Day Queenstown: Helicopter Glacier Tour


Some kids saved their shekels to spend on our free day in Queenstown. Brooke and Marc and their father Rich + Leah guest post today...

The Lord of the Rings Helicopter Tour was breathtaking and spectacular and is one of our fondest memories of the trip. The helicopter was smoother than expected, and we were lucky to have great weather for flying.


Our pilot Mike, like many New Zealanders, claimed to have an uncle in the movie. Our first stop was on a field overlooking a river.


 






The highlight of the tour was landing on Clarke Glacier in Mt Aspiring National Park. The glacier was named after one of our pilot's ancestors. We were surprised to step out of the helicopter and sink down into foot-deep snow. Mike doesn't bring passengers to this landing area year-round due to hidden crevices in the snow.

During spring, snow melts and forms openings, so you never know when the ice will break and you'll fall through. Lucky for us, it's winter and we didn't.
Atop Clarke Glacier

Here's a video I took while landing 
(trouble viewing click here)

















No comments:

Post a Comment